Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

15-Jul-2000 -- We surfed the Confluence web-site some weeks ago and noticed to our delight that no Confluences had been registered in South Africa. Both of us are amateur geographers and interested in all things GPS so this was viewed as a great opportunity.

Most of the urban population of South Africa reside in the Gauteng Province and in particular, Johannesburg and the nearby Pretoria, the two largest cities in South Africa. In the northern suburbs of Johannesburg is the confluence 26S 28E. The point meant travelling only about 15 km (9.4 miles) using the urban tarred roads. The local maps indicated that the point was near a road in the middle of the suburb of Kengies, Fourways. So this was going to be a quick and easy Confluence visit, right!

On Saturday, 15 July 2000, a blustery winters afternoon, we set off to do it. We drove around the Confluence for about an hour (see the track log screen snapshot) and were obstructed by fences, walls, gates and gravel roads with high verges. We finally managed to get about 120 meters from the point.

The confluence is inside an abandoned housing development which was fully walled, gated, padlocked and very, very closed. Undeterred, we scaled the gate in pursuit of what had now become a very elusive spot on the earth! After trundling the last few meters through thick grass and weeds and over ditches we finally made it, and the rest is history.

We used a Garmin II+ and Garmin III to confirm the Confluence location. The GPS datum was WGS84. A useful tip: don't use more than one GPS when visiting a Confluence -- it’s hell to get them both to agree on the exact location!